Jess Parker
|Last = Episode 5.6 |Actor/Actress = Ruth Kearney}} Jessica "Jess" Parker was the Anomaly Research Centre's young but efficient new field coordinator following its revival, responsible for tracking and coordinating the field team from her post at the ARC. Biography Background Jess Parker was born ca. 1991. When the ARC is revived due to a government-private partnership, Jess is made the new field coordinator. She is interviewed and shown footage of a Stegosaurus in the members bar at the House of Commons and a Gorgonopsid attack, shocking her. Jess doubts it's real, when she asks if she would come into contact with the dinosaurs in her job, the interviewer assures her that she wouldn't. Jess is asked why she thinks she's gone so far in the selection process, she says it's because she's the best team coordinator he'll find. Becker arrives at the new ARC where he is met by the new field coordinator, Jess Parker, who welcomes him back. He is surprised at her age, her behavior and her dress style, all unusual for a field coordinator. Jess explains that she's been here on her own for the past two weeks, just her and the creatures. She explains that she's been going through all the old mission reports, she says that she already feels like she knows him, Abby, Connor and Danny, this makes Becker feel awkward. At the ARC, Jess shows Becker files about the new team leader, Matt Anderson, as Lester wants him to look it over to see if everything is okay. This intrigues Becker that Lester still chooses the staff as he thought that the ARC was now privately owned. Jess explains that it's "50-50 government and private". He asks if Lester still reports to the Minister rather than "this Nobel Prize winning bloke from Prospero". Jess tells him that he's called Philip Burton and that Lester has to keep both of them happy. When Becker looks through Matt's rather impressive CV, Jess notes that with all the things he's done you'd think he'd be old and crusty but he's young, "fit too" as she adds. Becker looks on and asks if he is the only candidate. Jess asks if he's got to "the bit about Everest", Becker doesn't care much for people who feel the need to boast about things. Jess insults Becker by saying that if he's going to "put the brakes" on him because he's too good it would be "pretty lame". He insists that he isn't putting the brakes on anybody, Jess says that Matt is perfect for the job as he is ex-military, decorated for heroism and an expert on animal behaviour with countless references. Becker tries to brush off her accusations when she says that someone would think he wouldn't want his boss to be better than him. Becker deduces that she's making fun of him, she chuckles and says she's checking him he can crack a smile, since he does, that means that so far he's better company than a Mammoth. Becker gets the last laugh when he tricks her into thinking she's got something on her face. Matt watches a promotional video for Prospero Industries, where CEO Philip Burton explains that Prospero is the future, from bio-medical advances to the very latest in energy and environmental engineering. He only invests in the best and the brightest, so he's proud to have Matt aboard and he knows he'll be proud of Prospero. Jess comes behind Matt and mouths the end of the video, explaining that she's seen this video with every new recruit this month. But as she notes, he's of course no new recruit, he's the new team leader. Matt tells her that she doesn't have to call him sir, just Matt, he follows her to a place to meet with Becker. He asks her what's Burton like, she says that she's only met him twice, she thought he'd be really scary but he's not at all. She introduces him to the new I.D. tag on his wrist, it matches a reading of his skin, doors scan it to gain entry and it won't work for anyone else if he loses it. Matt asks if Burton has his own office her, Jess says he doesn't but normally uses Lester's if he pops by. Becker arrives and welcomes Matt who says it's good to meet him. Becker tells Matt that Lester told him he has a problem, Matt explains that he thinks the Special Forces should wear civilian clothes as the uniforms are a bit conspicuous. Becker argues that the uniform promotes unity and gives his men authority in the field. When Matt says that the "big guns" would have the same effect Becker says that the uniforms promote public confidence especially when weapons are involved and neither Nick or Danny had a problem with them. Matt decides that the will talk about it later but first asks him to show him around. Becker agrees and decides to show him around the armoury, as Becker leaves, Jess wishes Matt luck and assures him that Becker is nice really. Matt and Jess are walking together when Becker catches up with them, he asks Matt if it's true he's ordered non-lethal weapons. Matt isn't very bothered with Becker's shock and asks Jess for three shelves for his plants. Becker says the team need real guns, saying they aren't collecting for a petting zoo, warning the creatures aren't just interesting they're also deadly. Matt assures him that he knows, Becker asks if he knows what happens when they cut corners, people get hurt, people die. Matt tells him to just give the new weapons a chance, saying that he might be pleasantly surprised. Matt leaves saying that he'll see them both at the meeting, Jess assures Becker that he's alright, but Becker doesn't trust him and promises the rest of the team won't either. Matt makes a speech to the ARC staff, introducing himself to those he hasn't met. He explains that for the last couple of days Becker has been bending his ear on every detail on the operation to make sure that everyone is looked after, Matt assures everyone that their safety, even the safety of Becker, is his top priority. He describes how their jobs are demanding, dangerous, how they put their lives on the line to protect the public every time the alarm goes off. There's no room for errors and there's no time for on the job training. He says that with all of that in mind, some new policies are being implemented, all new field operatives will be strictly military or from a military background, safety will come first, there will be no more civilian recruiting. He notes that during the past few months, some staff have been testifying to the last mission of the old ARC, but now the investigation is officially wrapped up, Abby Maitland, Connor Temple and Danny Quinn have been pronounced missing, presumed dead. But Matt makes it clear that it means absolutely nothing, over the years the ARC has lost many brilliant people such as Nick Cutter, Stephen Hart and most recently Sarah Page. As far as Matt is concerned, this doesn't included Abby, Connor and Danny, saying that they could still be out there fighting to stay alive and to make it home. As Matt says, he never had the chance to work with them, but he hopes that someday he will. He announces that his first act as new team leader is to reject the government's findings, making it clear that he isn't giving up on the missing trio. Jess hopes that this will make Becker change his view on Matt. Becker and Matt take a look at new handheld tracking units given to them by Jess, Matt notes their rather large size, Jess explains that they collect data on the anomalies and are part of the new comm system and with these, she can monitor and record everything they say while out in the field. When Matt asks if it's necessary, Becker says of course it is as if they get into trouble, it will be known about it immediately. Matt asks if these will only be on during an alert, Jess tells him that Lester wants them on at all times just in case. When Jess says that the device will stop feeding back when they go through an anomaly, Becker asks why that is an issue as the policy is strict, no one goes through no matter what reason, everyone has been briefed and everyone knows the rules. As he leaves, Jess says to Matt that she wasn't saying that anyone should go through, Matt explains that he knows but he'll calm down soon. Later on, Jess meets up with Becker and apologises for earlier, he apologises too saying he overreacted. He tells her it's okay with her asking about the old team and she can ask him, she asks him one thing even though she assumes it's classified. Jess is confused because she thought the old team followed Helen Cutter into the Future but she's heard people talking about the past and early Humans. Becker explains in private that when the others didn't return, Sarah deciphered something in Helen Cutter's diary about Site 333 in the Great Rift Valley, where the ancestors of Humanity evolved, Sarah was always certain that Helen was trying to find her way back somehow to murder Humanity's ancestors, wipe out the Human race before it even started. Jess remarks that Helen was seriously messed up, but guesses that she failed as they're still here, Becker says it seems so. Episode 4.1 Jess accidentally lets the Dracorex out of storage where it rampages through the ARC. It confronts her in the main lab, but Matt manages to distract it with a bucket of water and lures it to Lester's office where the Dracorex trashes it before it is tranquilised. Matt takes the blame for Jess' mistake and she supports Matt's EMD weapons, which Jess describes to Becker, who is reluctant to use them. She tries to convince the pair not to use one on Becker, telling them to stop acting like a pair of kids, without success. When a new Anomaly was detected, she coordinated the team to its location. Through their Black Box's, she heard that Abby and Connor had come through and rushed to tell Lester the news. Shortly after, a creature incursion occurred, and Jess told helped Matt and Becker follow it. Abby and Connor stole one of the cars and followed, and Jess told them to lead it to an arena where it could be contained. Lester asked to talk to the pair, but she refused to let him touch her console and dismissing his threat of replacing her. When the situation was over, Jess was excited to meet Abby and Connor in person, having heard so much about them from Becker. She noted how horrible Philip and Lester were being towards the pair when they were told they no longer had jobs at the ARC. Episode 4.2 Jess is talking with Becker when the both see Connor taking a final look at the ARC after the announcement he is fired. She invites him to her place, and when Connor, shocked by her trusting behaviour, reminds her she doesn't know him, she answers "I've read the files. I know you". Later, she gives the tour to Abby who is beginning her work at the menagerie. Jess gives her her bio tag ID and leads her to her new workplace. When Abby tries to access a computer as Connor is calling her, Jess comes to give her access, informing her of the system shut down in case of an unauthorized person accessing the system. Abby gone, she sees Matt accessing the same computer and going. Before he does, she asks him to keep his black box turned on and to bring her some chocolate, "nothing with orange though, that's just weird". She confides in Becker about her doubts in Matt, feeling like she doesn't know him, even though she has "read his file backwards". Becker asks her about reading personal files and she admits having read everyone's file as part of her job, with an awkward moment about Becker's file about his relationship status. She goes back to Matt checking the computer right after Abby and Becker brushes her off, trusting Matt. Despite his order, Jess tracks Matt and finds him at the docks. She warns Becker, but he only believes her about something bad happening when she tells him that both Abby and Matt are at the docks and Matt isn't answering his phone, and that Matt's weird pattern of movement looks like he's chasing something. Becker accepts to go after them, but admits she's brilliant before leaving, as she is leaving massive hints. When Matt finally answers, she tells him about the whereabouts of the creature, the measures she has taken concerning the port and the coastguards and that Becker is already on his way. When they all come back, she asks Matt about her chocolate, but gets flustered when it's Becker who actually gives her some. Abby notices it, and Jess tries to brush it off. She proposes Abby and Connor to move in her place. As she welcomes them her in her place, she asks to know everything about the people they know at the ARC, before noticing with them she asked about Becker twice. She tries to conceal that fact by complaining about the lack of information in the files. Episode 4.3 When an anomaly opens up in a theatre, Jess informs the team that there has already been one fatality, so far. This makes Becker angry, and the team instantly head over to the theatre, in order to deal with the situation. After dealing with several vicious Tree Creepers, the team heads back to the ARC. However, little do they know that, back at the ARC, Jess is caught in a very serious crisis. Connor, while working for Philip, accidentally left Rex to be loose inside the lockdown room. Philip rushes into the room to quarantine him, but is then locked inside the room, along with Rex. Soon, Jess and Connor then learn that the air is being sucked out of the room, and that Philip only has 20 minutes left, before he loses consciousness. After several agonizing minutes, Connor finally figures out the password which is designed to "unlock" Lockdown. He manages to release the walls, letting air back into the room. Connor tries to congratulate Jess about her job, but she shrugs it off, being in a hurry to rescue Philip and Rex. In the end, medics are sent in with oxygen tanks, and, eventually, both Rex and Philip are now safe. And it is all thanks to Connor, whom got tons and tons of help from Jess. Episode 4.4 Jess monitored the team in the McKinnon School from her station using surveillance cameras, and told Connor where to go when the door security locks crashed. Abby came to her to ask for her help in getting the creatures out of the menagerie, as Philip wanted to put them all down. Jess was uncertain, but soon had to steer Matt and Becker in the direction of two students who were near a creature. Through another camera she saw a girl inside the gym and the creature, warning Matt and Becker to the danger. But it was too late and Jess watched the horrible death of the girl. Abby chose that moment to ask Jess to start opening the loading bay, but she refused, having just being given “a major reality check”. Jess went to Lester to tell him what Abby was up to. She soon spotted more creatures coming through the Anomaly and Becker went to deal with it. He was attacked and poisoned, but Matt managed to save him, to Jess' relief. She approached Becker as he prepared to leave the ARC, watching for a little too long as he removed his shirt. She offered to help him put his jacket on and ended up accidentally kicking his wound. She congratulated him on his efforts and tried to reassure him that even though two people died, two people were saved. Episode 4.5 An anomaly alarms blares on and off, so Jess let Connor briefly take control of the ADD. When Matt, Abby and Connor are sent on site, she searches for any sign of Emily after her disappearance. She shows Lester a CCTV footage in which they can see Ethan kidnapping Emily, and, seeing that Becker is still on medical leave, the civil servant asks her to tell Matt about their discovery, without Philip knowing about it. Jess asks Matt back, leaving Connor and Abby to take care of the incursion, but Philip decides then to use the ADD for himself, rending Jess unable to help Matt through his mission. When Philip finds back the anomaly, he and Lester put Jess in a rough point, the first one wanting Connor to study the anomaly while the second one prioritize the containment of the incursion. She complies with Lester's orders, even though Philip goes over his authority and asks Connor to go to the anomaly. Jess is forced to keep an eye on Philip and Matt, all the while keeping watch on Abby and Connor. She also finds out she has two signals from Mat's black boxes. Lester offers his help. Seeing her doubtful expression about him using computers and radio, he says "if she can manage it, how hard can it be?". Nevertheless, he is forced to call her back when he can't hear Matt. Milking it, Jess tells him "it helps when you put the volume up". Offended, he announces that "sarcasm won't get her promoted" to what she answers that it obviously "must have worked for him". Lester then becomes "the new Jess" while Jess can take care of the official mission. Episode 4.6 Jess helps locate an apartment Ethan Dobrowski used to watch Emily, and when Becker and his men fail to find him, a surveilance is set up. During the night Jess surprises Becker in his car and gives him while he is waiting for Ethan to appear. He is suspicious of her motives, knowing she lives no where near his location when she claimed it was on her route. She stays with Becker and sleeps in the car next to him, before Becker wakes up and sees Ethan moving on CCTV. Jess is told to stay in the car and stays there for a while before taking an EMD for herself and going to find Becker in a trap rigged up to a bomb. She refuses to leave him and offers to defuse the bomb herself. through his instructions, she manages to disarm it and save Becker from being blown up. She and Becker hugged before he ordered his men to search the area. Jess watched Jenny Lewis' marriage on the ARC's video link when Lester performed the wedding vows, and cried into his handkerchief. Picture This Jess teams up with Becker to deal with a Tyrannosaurus Rex in an art gallery. Episode 4.7 Jess waited impatiently as Connor used his new Dating Calculator, complaining that she was getting older. When it was supposedly 1867, she impulsively told Emily who walked away, but a Terror Bird came through, meaning it was off by a few million years. Abby and Becker encountered another anomaly and Jess couldn't detect it. Connor later proved the anomaly was actually two forced into a merge, explaining the undetectable anomalies and the wrong date on the Dating Calculator. Jess told Emily, who wasn't sure if she should go home, and Jess said they could arrange for her to live in the present. Connor later asked Jess where Philip was and she told him he'd just left, but didn't know what was going on. Episode 5.1 Jess was contacted by Lester who wanted her help finding his way out of a traffic jam. She later called back to tell him that the Cabinet Office had wanted to talk to him about a knighthood, which was presumably for him. He then asked her to look into a possible creature attack at the roadworks he was stuck in, and intercepted calls mentioning a creature, so she sounded the alert. Later she intercepted another call from a cookout where a man had been dragged underground by a Large Burrowing Insect. She told Lester, though he was more preoccupied with his meeting. Jess later heard over the black boxes that Connor had been taken by the creature, and informed Lester, who assured her that Matt would find him. Later they listened in on the operation to destroy the creature's nest, and sympathised for the fact that the knighthood was actually for Philip. Once the crisis was over, she told Connor that April Leonard was waiting in his lab. Episode 5.2 Jess took down the coordinates of a new anomaly in the North Sea, and received a call for Lester from the Admiralty. She oversaw the submarine with the team onboard made its way to the anomaly, and could only watch as the mission fell apart as the sub was pulled through the anomaly. She was worried as Admiral Marston decided to attempt blowing up the anomaly using another submarine. She reluctantly followed his orders to secure comms to the sub. As the nuclear torpedo was launched, the team's sub returned and sealed the anomaly. Episode 5.3 Jess oversaw the team's response to an anomaly, and when they accidentally sent a raptor through to the Victorian era Jess looked into Spring-Heeled Jack, the name for a murderer they assumed the raptor to be back then. She found that in another month following the creature would kill another dozen people, prompting Matt to go and retrieve it. She later reassured Abby that Connor still cared about her despite his work, and when Abby asked if Jess thought that she should lie to him and do something he wouldn't like for his own good, she noted that lying was usually the beginning of the end. Abby later asked to use Jess' computer terminal, and she complied when assured that she wouldn't regret it. When Matt and Becker returned to the ARC with Emily, Jess was glad to see her back, having figured she would return someday. Episode 5.4 When Philip and Connor create the very first man-made anomaly, a gigantic swarm of deadly Future Beetles invades the ARC, forcing it into lockdown. Jess watches as the swarm fills Connor's lab, and then points out that the beetles are burrowing their way out. Jess gets a map of the ventilation tunnels in the ARC, and that the best place for them to go is in the operations room, where the team can spray them with pesticide. However, one beetle drops down on Jess and bites her, and Becker abandons his attempts at spraying the beetles and to help her. She reveals to the team that she's allergic to insect bites, and Becker volunteers to take her to the medical unit, but they find that the beetles have eaten all the chemicals, including the adrenaline. Becker asks Jess where she keeps her own epi-pen, and she says she keeps it in her car but she never brings it in because the medical facilities at the ARC were good. Becker says that she needs a hospital, but Philip refuses to lift lockdown, leaving them no other option but to take Jess down to the car park in desperation. Jess' epi-pen isn't there, so Emily asks Becker to get some water and a towel. Jess then observes that Rex is down there, and then sees a beetle on the wall and shoots it with an EMD. Becker then takes her into the car when she starts hallucinating. When Philip threatens to incinerate the ARC, Connor and Matt come up with an idea to send a gamma ray through the ARC, while everyone is inside the lead-lined panic room. After the gamma ray has passed, Becker rushes off to get Jess adrenaline, and gets the epi-pen. He's scared that it might be too late, but Jess wakes up and Becker, while extremely relieved, goes off to do 'security stuff'. Episode 5.5 Jess was present when Matt admitted to everyone that he was from the future trying to stop a catastrophe, and ultimately Philip. Jess directed the team's movements as they dealt with a Tyrannosaurus in the middle of the city. When several anomalies began opening all over the world as part of the convergence, she set about bringing in all the ARC staff and made teams to deal with several situations and keeping an eye on their progress. The pressure of the crisis almost overwhelmed her, until Lester encouraged her with surpsisingly nice words to keep going. Eventually the situation ended as all of the worldwide anomalies began closing, and she and Lester could only wonder as to whether or not that was a good or bad thing. Episode 5.6 Jess and Lester were in the ARC that trying to make sense of the situation and contact the others. After an EMP caused by Philip's anomaly caused the power to go off in the ARC, Jess activated the emergency power. After telling Lester she had no new news, she feared that everyone was dead and that it was the end of the world, though Lester was doubtful. As Lester decided to get them some whisky, Jess noticed that there were mutated future predators in the ARC's hub, having come through Connor's reopened anomaly. Lester told her not to make any noise, and when they made their way to the armoury she removed her heels. While seeking out EMDs, Lester accidentally dropped a case and drew the Predators to them. They survived the attack, although Lester was wounded and Jess terrified. When the rest of the team arrived, Abby assured Jess they would defeat the Predators, and used her laptop to create an ultrasonic noise that paralysed them as Becker killed them both. Later, after the team had successfully closed Philip's anomaly, Jess began preparing the hub as they learned of a new anomaly, lightly taking in Lester's order to get back to work. Personality Jess was an awkward, lively, pretty, unconventional, funny and sometimes flighty person, but not at all as daft as she could seem; under her energetic, bubbly and light-hearted exterior, she was in fact a highly competent, skilled, fast-thinking, reliable and fiercely-professional coordinator, who would remain professional-headed and go through with doing her job no matter how much the pressure on her was. Jess took her job and her efficiency very seriously, and she didn't take her mistakes and mess-ups well in the rare event when they did happen, although this wouldn't stop her from continuing with her job and trying to make up for them. When it came to her teammates and other people both within and outside her work, Jess could be highly caring and thoughtful and liked to be on friendly terms with her fellow team-members. Due to her immense skill with technology and organisation, Jess believed she could get to know a lot about people from their files just as well as from personal interaction, and got frustrated in the rare event when she couldn't work a person out after a long length of time knowing them. Caring, strong-willed and witty, while Jess was much more used to coordinating from at the ARC than confronting the creatures in person, she would help and protect her team from her coordinating duties stationed at the ARC at all costs. Relationships Abby Maitland Upon first meeting Abby, Jess hero-worshipped her as one of the original ARC team and was very eager to know all about her and the old ARC. Jess wanted to be a highly helpful friend to Abby when she needed help, although she still wouldn't help if she thought it was dangerous and/or was worried about Abby getting hurt. Connor Temple Jess hero-worshipped Connor as one of the original ARC team upon meeting him, and was eager to help him out where and when she could. As she became more used to him as one of the team in the present though, her relationship with him seemed to grow to be more down-to-earth, becoming slightly impatient with his antics when it was the wrong place and wrong time or when he was using up a lot of time. Emily Merchant Jess was a highly thoughtful and caring friend to Emily at the ARC, impulsively giving her what she thought would be good news when it came up. When Emily returned to the present to stay after finding she really couldn't belong in her home time anymore, Jess was glad and thrilled to have Emily back. Hilary Becker Jess had a large crush on Becker, enjoying his company and barely being able to keep up composed behavior when talking with him outside of their ARC work; she once even went as far as visiting him for a meal while he was in the middle of a dangerous stakeout. Becker and Jess also seemed to be close friends who were able to talk to each-other about personal things and thoughts. Becker himself was extremely protective of Jess's life when she was in danger or in harm's way, possibly even more so than he was with even the rest of the team. James Lester Lester and Jess frequently interacted due to Jess's role in coordination and technology at the ARC, and had a rather light relationship. Lester sometimes depended on Jess's technical coordination and It skills for help, and often tried to exploit it for mundane and personal gain, to Jess's chagrin. Jess in turn was unthreatened by Lester, treating him as harmless and sarcastically chiding him when he asked her to use her IT skills for things that were "not in her job description." Matt Anderson During their time working together at the ARC, while Matt and Jess frequently interacted professionally when on-duty, outside of their work, Jess was rather curt and detached towards Matt, out of frustration that she couldn't work out and get to know Matt from his file like she could everyone else. Appearances * * * * * *Episode 4.1 *Episode 4.2 *Episode 4.3 *Episode 4.4 *Episode 4.5 *Episode 4.6 *''Picture This'' *Episode 4.7 *Episode 5.1 *Episode 5.2 *Episode 5.3 *Episode 5.4 *Episode 5.5 *Episode 5.6 Trivia *Jess was the second Primeval character to have a phobia of insects, due to the fact that she was allergic to their bites; the first person was Sarah Page. Category:Characters Category:Females Parker, Jess Category:Series 5 Characters Category:Recurring characters Category:Main Characters Category:Anomaly personnel Category:ARC Staff Category:Alive Category:Featured Articles